Status Report: New Horizons Passes Another Development Milestone November 4, 2002

NASA’s first mission to Pluto has sailed past another critical milestone, as
the New Horizons team successfully completed its second major system-level
evaluation.

New Horizons held its Preliminary Design Review Oct. 22-24 at The Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., which
manages the mission for NASA. A panel of spacecraft and system engineering
experts from APL, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center and Southwest Research Institute examined New Horizons’
mission plans and spacecraft design – concluding each are reaching their
anticipated level of maturity and that the project is ready to proceed.

“New Horizons has continued to make substantial progress since its first
requirements review five months ago,” says Eric Hoffman, the APL Space
Department’s chief engineer, who chaired the 10-member review panel. “New
Horizons has validated its preliminary design and the team can move ahead
with more detailed design activities.”

The New Horizons spacecraft team plans to start construction next year,
after additional reviews in the spring. Long lead-time parts are already
being ordered. The science instruments underwent design
reviews in August and remain on
track for completion by summer 2004.

“We are on schedule and well within budget,” says New Horizons Project
Manager Thomas Coughlin, of APL. “We are exactly where we intended to be.
This is a great team and we’re ready to get on with this mission.”

New Horizons is working toward a January 2006 launch; it also has backup
launch opportunities in February 2006 and February 2007. Depending on the
launch vehicle NASA selects – the agency is expected to choose either a
Delta IV or an Atlas V by early next year – New Horizons could arrive at
Pluto and its moon, Charon, as early as 2015. If launched in January 2006,
as planned, it will swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific
studies in 2007. After exploring Pluto-Charon, the spacecraft will encounter
up to three other objects in the Kuiper Belt.

New Horizons is the first mission to Pluto, its moon, Charon, and the Kuiper
Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond. Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern,
director of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Space
Studies Department, Boulder, Colo., leads a
mission team that includes major partners at the Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md.;
Stanford University , Palo Alto, Calif.; Ball
Aerospace Corp., Boulder; NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.;
and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory , Pasadena,
Calif. APL manages the mission for NASA and will
design, build and operate the New Horizons spacecraft. SwRI
is responsible for scientific instrument
development, science team management and the mission’s scientific
investigations.